Page 13 of Her Stepbrother Master
“Ferris wheel, it is,” he said, putting his hand on her back and leading her toward the giant rotating disk.
The line was long, but she spotted a few young women she knew who waved them in.
“Hey, LuAnn,” a dark-haired girl said with a curious look. “I heard you left Sarah Wharton.”
“Nope,” she said, only blushing a little. “I just moved off-campus.”
The girls stared at him. “This is Brad,” she said, “my, um…” She darted a glance at him. “...friend.”
He didn’t contradict her. They were friends, after all. Sort of. In the we’re-related-by-marriage-and-I-can’t-keep-my-hands-off-her way. Not wanting to stay and chit chat with her fellow coeds, he excused himself. “I’ll be right back, mouse.” When she gave him a panicked look, he said, “I promise I’ll be back before it’s our turn, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, her face relaxing.
He walked over to lean against a building and pulled his pack of cigarettes out from where he’d rolled it in his shirt sleeve. He lit up, watching LuAnn pretending not to watch him. What was it he found so irresistible about her? The simple fact he couldn’t have her? No, there was something more. He couldn’t put a finger on it—it was more than the protectiveness he felt for her, more than the lust she inspired, or the way she blushed, or her starry-eyed gazes. Maybe it was all those things wrapped up into one.
The snaking line had moved up and LuAnn was looking over at him. He stubbed out his cigarette and walked back to...he almost thought his girl. And he never said that, not about any girl he dated. And the wrongness of it somehow made it feel even more right.
She turned to him as he approached, her green eyes lighting up as her lips curved into a wide smile. This was the mouse he’d observed when she thought no one was watching. When she forgot to try to be cool or impress others. He’d always loved watching her childlike enthusiasm for simple pleasures like Ferris wheels and, well, his presence.
Her unwavering regard filled him with pride, as if he was someone so much more important than an entry-level architect in his second year of the profession. He wanted to kiss her berry lips suddenly, with an ache that had him sucking in his breath to inhibit the urge.
Wrong. This all was so wrong, and yet he couldn’t stop letting it play out. He found his stepsister too fascinating, too tempting to leave alone.
They climbed on the Ferris wheel and he put his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to snuggle up against his side and pretend she was afraid. Her hand trembled on the bar, but he knew it wasn’t from fear. Around and around the wheel went, their bucket tipping forward and swinging with each lurch as the conductor loaded the people. At last they all were seated and the wheel began to spin.
The passengers broke into cries of glee, and LuAnn joined them, lifting her hands from the bar and reaching toward the sky, her eyes wide with delight. He grinned back at her, the childish joy contagious.
“I love the view from up here,” she said as the wheel spun around once, then twice, then a third time. The conductor began to stop it, car by car to let the passengers off. “Aw.” She stuck out her lower lip.
He wanted to kiss it. No, he wanted to bite it between his teeth—gently, of course. He wanted to pull her onto his lap and tease her with his hands and lips and tongue until she squirmed with delight.
Of course, he did no any such thing. Instead, when the conductor let them off their car, he took her to the bean bag tossing booth and won her a big, fluffy brown teddy bear with a gingham ribbon around his neck.
“This can replace that ratty old white bear I gave you years ago.”
“No way. I’m not getting rid of Marshmallow.” ” She squeezed the bear, twirling back and forth with it. “I’ll just add Beary to my collection.”
He smiled. “Beary, huh? Cute.” Like you.
Her cheeks turned pink and she ducked her head, adorable in her embarrassment.
“Oh, he’s absolutely dreamy, Lu,” Beth said, handing her a cigarette and lighting a match.
She didn’t know Beth that well, but they’d been in the same dorm and had gone to squeal at an Elvis Presley concert together once. It was nice to have a friend to sneak off behind the bathrooms with to have a cigarette. “I know. But we’re not...um, dating.”
“That’s not how it seemed to me. I saw the way he looked at you.”
She held the cigarette out to the flame and inhaled, then coughed when her lungs filled with smoke. “How did he look?”
“Like he thought you were adorable. He had an indulgent sort of smile.”
She frowned. Adorable and indulgent. Both words sounded big-brotherly. Not passionate. Or adoring. Or lustful.
Well, what did she expect? She had acted like a child back there. Why, oh, why had she made such a fuss about the bear? She didn’t want him to find her adorable. She wanted to be sophisticated, smart, sexy, sassy. She wanted to be far from the little “mouse” he still called her.
She needed to come up with a new strategy. Maybe instead of hiding back here smoking, she should just march over and ask him for a cigarette. Except she never could light it up without coughing. That wasn’t cool.
“Well, he’s not my boyfriend. But maybe soon…” she said with a wicked smile.
